Rove: Obama's Proposed Military Cuts 'Entirely Political'

The good news in President Barack Obama's proposal to slash military spending to pre-World War II levels would be that the move was "entirely political," Karl Rove said Wednesday.

"The bad news is he wants to do it. The good news is, I think, it's entirely political," Rove, former deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush, told "Fox & Friends."

The plan was aimed at revving up "the left of the Democratic Party for the midterm elections," Rove said, adding that bipartisan reaction among lawmakers to the proposal was, "No way we're going to do this."

On Monday, Department of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced President Obama would seek a sharp reduction in military spending in his proposed budget. The announcement met with immediate resistance from lawmakers and military leaders.

The cuts would reduce the number of American troops to about 420,000. Rove said the measure would be "cutting the muscle of our military," and that military leaders found any number below 500,000 too low.

"You cannot find a significant military commander who will not say, privately, [it's] dangerous to go below 500,000. And we're going close to 400,000. It'll be the smallest Army since the eve of World War II," he said.

Rove predicted there would be a strong backlash among members of Congress to the measure, and predicted some compromise would be reached.

"We won't be where we need to be. But we won't be where he wants us to be, and where he proposes that we are," he said.